


Lunch Date

by thatpeculiarone



Series: thatpeculiarone's bingo series [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Dates, Fluff, Lunch Dates, M/M, Shy Cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:35:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23731678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatpeculiarone/pseuds/thatpeculiarone
Summary: Dean and Cas have been eating lunch at the same table for weeks. Yet, they have barely interacted or spoken a word to each other. However, with the help of a PB&J sandwich, a packet of cookies and a bag of chips -- one Wednesday changes it all.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Series: thatpeculiarone's bingo series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947103
Comments: 26
Kudos: 171
Collections: ProfoundBond Prompt Collection





	Lunch Date

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kazshero](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazshero/gifts).



> Happy birthday Kaz! 
> 
> I decided to write this fic for my friend Kaz's birthday based on a similar prompt she posted. 
> 
> This work is unbeta'd and I am battling the worst writer's block in history so please be kind! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> PART 1 OF MY BINGO SERIES: **College!AU**

When Dean tells people about his husband, most people ask about the day they met. Being college sweethearts, most people expect to hear a grand story about a first meeting in class, or bumping into each other on campus. However, Dean’s story of meeting his husband is bland. In fact, he barely remembers the day they first were introduced. So instead, he likes to tell the story of their first lunch date.

Dean knew that if it weren’t for the social life that college offered, he would’ve quit college within the first few weeks.

He’s never been the studious type, he’s always found that he is particularly too restless to sit down and read for long periods of time. He’s a hands-on learner, always has been. It’s how he learnt his way around cars and what made them work. It’s how he learnt to bake, just from experimenting in the kitchen. He never learnt by listening to lectures or reading _“Nanostructures: Properties, Production Methods and Applications.”_ In fact, whenever he read textbooks, he could actually _feel_ his brain cells leaving one by one. So, needless to say, he hated the well… _college_ aspect of college.

But the social life? That’s where it was at.

It had always been particularly easy for him to make friends as he’d always been more on the extroverted side. He made new friends everywhere he went, from his classes to the freshman gatherings -- even at the local campus coffee shop. He was only in his second semester of college at the time and he already had people greeting him by name on campus. However, a lot of them happened to be old classmates from high school considering the campus of their college is in the heart of their hometown. While a fair few left to attend college elsewhere and others got jobs straight out of high school, most of the friends Dean grew up with attended college right along beside him. And while he may have spent his time at college making new friends and attending all the events their campus had to offer, he always made sure to spend time with his oldest friends.

Every Monday to Friday, his scheduled “high school friends” gathering happened at 12pm in the cafeteria. With all their schedules so conflicting, the only time they could meet regularly happened to be at lunch every week day. It was fairly similar to the way it was back in high school, when they were all able to share a lunch period.

Dean walked into the cafeteria that Wednesday with a beat in his step. Not only had his classes gone pretty well for the first week back, but in his bag was his mid-term from last semester that he _aced_. He was in a good mood, especially when he saw a fiery red-head waving at him from across the room.

Charlie Bradbury had been his friend since the 1st grade, when the two of them were forced to sit at the same group table in class. They grew up side-by-side, to the point that many predicted that they’d actually marry when they were older. However, that ideal shattered the moment Charlie began dating Gilda Fay in their freshman year of high school and they officially proclaimed themselves as Lawrence High’s honorary lesbian couple (that is until Gilda moved back to her hometown the summer before senior year causing a mutual break-up between the two). Dean had never seen Charlie as anything more than a friend, practically a sister and for a while, she was truly his only friend. That was until they met Benny midway through their freshman year, only a month after Charlie began dating Gilda. Almost instantly, the three of them became a trio, with Gilda occasionally joining them during lunches and outings. In the end, when it came down to applying for college, there was no doubt that all three of them would be going to Kansas University.

His friends were sitting at a table at the other end of the cafeteria, the one that they usually found themselves sitting at during their lunch break. While it was reminiscent of their high school lunches, it was also different with the addition of two new members to their group.

The first was Anna, a college sophomore who transferred to KU only last semester. She met Charlie at the first annual LGBTQ+ club event and it wasn’t long before the two became mutually exclusive. When Anna began eating with them late the previous semester, she asked if her brother could tag along. Turned out the only reason Anna transferred was so she could be closer to her half-brother, who had chosen KU as his own university of choice. The two of them had been estranged for most of their lives due to their parents’ rough divorce. Anna wanted more opportunities to talk to him and get to know him, considering neither of them were fond of the dad they shared, nor their respective mothers. It was what led Castiel to join them for lunch everyday, although he rarely talked. He mostly observed the conversations, answered a few questions here and there and ate his lunch quietly.

As Dean walked up to the table, he noticed everyone was sitting in their usual spots. Anna and Charlie on one side, Benny on the other in the seat next to Dean’s. Castiel sat on the same side as the two of them, but always with a chair between them. Dean tried to not let it bother him that Castiel was so closed off, Anna said that was just a part of who he was and to not take it personally.

“Guess who aced their midterm?” Dean greeted with a grin, sliding into his usual spot. A flourish of cheers and exclamations came from Benny, Charlie and Anna, while Castiel just sent him the slightest of smiles. They had a small conversation about Dean’s success, before it changed to something more inclusive for the entire group. Dean used that time to pull out the PB&J sandwich he made himself for lunch. The cafeteria food was overpriced and Dean was surprisingly frugal. With him still living at home due to the proximity of his college campus, he used the money that he would be spending on expensive lunches to save up for his eventual moving out.

He pulled the sandwich out and was about to begin eating it when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was Castiel, sitting silently and _not_ eating. At first Dean was confused as to why, when he noticed that all the guy had was a bag of potato chips and a packet of cookies. He raised his eyebrows.

“Cas…” he drawled, the nickname slipping out before he could stop it. Castiel was such a mouthful, even when he was just thinking the name in his head. Cas was simple and he couldn’t help but call the guy that in his head. However, he’d never addressed him as such. “Why aren’t you eating lunch?”

Castiel looked down at his food and shrugged, while Anna sighed.

“He got a new roommate in his dorm who is coeliac and because of the risk of cross-contamination, he can’t have bread in the dorm. So now he has to buy both lunch and dinner which… you know… adds up. So he’s opted for buying convenience store snacks for lunch and spending the majority of his money on dinner. But I don’t think the snacks are exactly what he’d call a lunch.”

While Anna was friendly, charismatic and a genuinely kind person, it did bother Dean when she spoke for Cas. The man was perfectly capable of talking, of expressing his own thoughts and feelings. He knew it was just Anna taking on the role of a big sister that she’d missed out on, Dean understood considering he was an older sibling himself. Yet, it still agitated him to a certain degree.

Considering Anna answered for him, Castiel didn't look inclined to say more. Dean looked down at his own PB&J, wanting to offer Cas his entire sandwich or buy him lunch from the cafeteria. However, he knew Castiel wouldn’t accept. Anna always mentioned how self-reliant her brother was -- that he was fiercely independent and stubborn. There was no way he’d take Dean’s offering if it seemed as if he was just _giving_ him something. So, Dean decided to go an alternative route.

“I have a proposal.” Dean stated. Anna, Charlie and Benny stared at him intensely, curious to see where this would lead. Castiel, on the other hand, just cautiously met his eye.

“How about I give you half my PB&J for a couple of your chips and cookies?”

Cas was silent for a few moments as he weighed his options. The rest of the table waited in silence, seemingly on the edge of their seats. After about twenty seconds had passed, Cas slowly nodded.

Dean grinned, “Perfect!”

He pulled apart the sandwich and handed it over to Castiel. The man took it, quietly uttering a thank you. In return he slid over the packets to Dean, who took a handful out of both for himself.

His lunch wasn’t particularly healthy to say the least, but the mix of a sandwich, chips and cookies was definitely a well-rounded lunch in Dean’s opinion. Castiel seemed happy too and that was a win in his book.

So when Thursday came around and Castiel sat with the same lonely snacks, Dean made the same offer. It then repeated again on Friday, becoming a small routine between the two of them. The following Monday Dean found that Cas had picked new snacks to add variety, so for the next few days they ate through a multitude of Doritos, Cheetos, Chips Ahoy and Oreo flavours. Turns out between the two of them, they had similar tastes. When Thursday rolled around, Dean approached the table to find that Castiel had separated the divide between them. He was sitting in the chair beside Dean’s, with a packet of Oreos and Lays chips on the table. When he saw Dean walk up, he smiled and greeted him as per usual.

 _About time,_ Dean thought happily as he nestled in between both Benny and Cas.

So when Dean showed up the next day to lunch and saw Cas sitting there, he didn’t hesitate to pull out the paper bag and throw it at Cas. The man looked at the bag in confusion, especially when Dean pulled out a second one.

“It’s about time we each got our own sandwich,” he said.

Cas opened his mouth, most likely to refuse but Dean shook his head.

“Nope, I don’t want to hear a word outta you. Shut up and eat your sandwich.”

Cas smiled and did as he was told, taking a big bite into his sandwich. Dean playfully bumped his shoulder as he leant over to grab some of the chips. When Cas finished the sandwich, he tried to affectionately bump Dean’s shoulder as well, although his was a much weaker attempt. It still made Dean flush a bright red and he kept his head down for the remainder of the lunch, trying to ignore the knowing gazes that Anna was sending him.

**. . .**

It was during the following Wednesday’s lunch that Cas striked up their first proper conversation.

“So… you’re a STEM major as well?” Cas asked. Dean felt himself jump a little, surprised that Cas was actually talking to him. Most of the time, all he’d heard Cas say was ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’ and ‘thank you’. He swallowed the food he was eating and nodded.

“Uh… yeah. Studying engineering… mainly mechanical engineering. What… what about you?”

“Astrophysics.”

Dean whistled low. “Wow dude… that’s impressive.”

Cas shrugged. “I actually find mechanical engineering far more impressive. While I have an understanding of the fundamental physics around certain aspects to your degree, I don’t think I could understand the manufacturing of those mechanical systems and be able to build and repair them like you do.”

Dean laughed, “Well my understanding of mechanical engineering is currently limited to mostly cars and the most basic physics so I can’t say I know a whole lot more than you.”

“I don’t even know how to change the oil in my car, or a flat tyre, Dean.” Cas responded, with a small chuckle. “I’m pretty sure you know a lot more about that area than I do.”

They continued to banter for the rest of their lunch session and after that, conversations between them flowed easily. By the time Spring break rolled around, Dean felt that he could confidently call Cas his friend, considering most lunches now he spent talking to him. Charlie and Benny had obviously taken notice, continuously teasing him when Cas wasn’t around. They’d even roped his younger brother Sam in on it, so that he could never escape it.

 _“How’s Cas?”_ He’d always ask the moment Dean got home from college. He’d taken to going straight upstairs as soon as he stepped inside, just so that he could flee Sam’s taunts.

The thing was, he liked Cas a lot as a friend. Truthfully, he hadn’t thought about Cas in a romantic way when they’d first met. He knew from day one that Castiel was undeniably attractive and definitely the type of guy that Dean would be open to dating. Yet it wasn’t until they grew closer that something began to stir in Dean and he began to develop more deeper feelings. Plus, his friends’ goading definitely did not help. During Spring break he realised that he missed Cas and missed their lunches together. Eating a PB&J at the kitchen table was definitely not the same without the assortment of treats and Cas’ humbling presence. Despite the welcomed break from school, he had a strong desire to return, just to continue having lunch with Cas.

However, he was afraid to act on it as not many people knew Dean was bisexual. It was something he felt he didn’t need to announce. His friends and family knew, but he was always cautious about who he told. And considering Anna and Castiel were both new friends of his, he hadn’t mentioned it just yet. It was why Anna cornered him on the first day back, on his way to class.

“Look… I know you mean well and you’re just being nice. And I’m glad, _so glad,_ that Cas has made a friend but… you’ve got to cool it.”

Dean raised an eyebrow, “Cool it?”

Anna huffed, “I mean… look… Cas… let’s just say he’s _infatuated_ by you okay? And I don’t want you to continue… _leading him on.”_

Dean attempted to hold back a laugh as Anna whispered the last part. However, it proved futile as warm, throaty chuckles began to bubble over. The glare Anna sent him was murderous.

“Dean. I am _serious._ ” She growled. Dean continued laughing. He realised that Anna thought he was as straight as a ruler and the bantering between himself and Castiel was just Dean being friendly. He always assumed she had some indication or that Charlie had accidentally slipped it out in conversation. So, Anna’s obliviousness was hilarious to Dean.

“Anna… I’m bi.” He said with a grin on his face.

Anna blinked.

“Oh.”

Dean crossed his arms. “I like Cas too, okay? I’m not going to deny something is there. And I don’t want to lead him on or hurt him. Things are just… new. I just want to see where things are heading before I jump to anything, so you don’t need to worry. But, you’re lucky we’re friends and approaching someone that Castiel _might_ be interested in is super invasive, dude. I am happy to keep this a secret from Cas if you promise you won’t intervene again. I get you’re protective, I _understand,_ but this is none of your damn business. If you do it again, I won’t hesitate to let him know and considering we both know how independent he is, I don’t think he’ll be too happy with you.”

Anna nodded quickly.

“Yes… I won’t bother you again. Sorry Dean… thanks.”

She scurried off and Dean continued on his journey to class. Still to this day, Anna had kept her promise. However, Dean had revealed the truth to Cas about a year and a half later.

**. . .**

Their lunches continued the same for a few weeks following and as the term began to near its end, it was obvious to everyone that there were underlying feelings. Well, that’s at least what Charlie had told Dean. He didn’t realise how transparent they were being. It took him a while to work up the courage, even with the encouragement from his friends. Yet when finals began to rapidly approach and Cas was preparing to travel home for the Summer, Dean knew he’d have to make his move soon.

Two weeks before finals, he showed up for lunch and sat down at the table as per usual. Castiel sat with his snacks, listening as Charlie told a story to the group. Dean went into his backpack and pulled out a paper bag, tossing it over to Cas. His friend sent him a warm smile and immediately reached into the bag, obviously prepared to find the usual PB&J sandwich. Instead, Dean watched as Cas pulled out three cookies and a small loose piece of paper.

_I hope you enjoy these PB &J cookies, I thought I’d try something different. And on the topic of trying something different, I was wondering if you wanted to try dinner as well? _

_-Dean_

Cas looked over at him and their eyes met. Dean could see the question in Cas’ gaze, could see that he was wanting clarification that the note meant what he thought it meant. Dean nodded.

Cas grinned the biggest smile Dean had ever seen and nodded rapidly. Dean smiled in return before turning away to grab out his own bag of cookies. They both ate them in silence, with rosy cheeks and dazed smiles.

The other three stared at them in confusion, having no clue as to what they’d just witnessed.

**. . .**

Their first dinner date occurred a week later at a local restaurant in town. The first few minutes were awkward and stiff, with the both of them full of nerves. However, as soon as they got settled in their seats, they both began to relax. They picked their meals relatively easily, with Dean ordering a burger and Cas ordering pizza. Yet, when their meals arrived, it was obvious how mouthwatering _both_ looked. Dean found himself staring at Cas’ pizza, along with his own burger. When he looked up, he found that Cas was doing the same.

“Want to share?” Cas stated meekly, a knowing gaze in his eyes.

Dean grinned.

“You bet.”

**Author's Note:**

> Join us in the ProfoundBond Discord (18+)!! https://discord.gg/profoundbond
> 
> MY SOCIALS:  
> Tumblr: imthatpeculiarone  
> Twitter: thatpeculiarone


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